In a new interview with U.K.’s TotalRock, Chris Robertson of Kentucky rockers BLACK STONE CHERRY confirmed that he and his bandmates have been working on the follow-up to 2023’s “Screamin’ At The Sky” album. The vocalist/guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’ve been working on new music. We know it’s been a while since we put out a new record. We put out the Record Store Day record, which was a collection of previously recorded material. But we’ve been working our asses off on some new music. And I can’t give out dates, but soon-ish there’ll be some new music for people to hear and some announcements and things like that. But we’ve been very, very hard at work on new music and we’re very excited for people to hear what we’ve come up with.”
Asked how he and his BLACK STONE CHERRY bandmates keep coming up with fresh material that they haven’t already drawn on for previous records, Chris said: “That’s hard, because you’ll hit a riff and you’ll be, like, ‘Ah, it’s too similar to this one.’ But there’s a fine line of going… I think you never wanna completely repeat yourself, but that and drawing from what made you who you are and the things that got you there, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. AC/DC is one of the greatest bands of all time, and a lot of their songs have similarities. But none of us care when they’re on the radio… And you’ve got the other side of that spectrum — you’ve got AC/DC and then you’ve got LED ZEPPELIN, where no record ever sounded anywhere near similar with LED ZEPPELIN. And I feel like for us, we’re kind of somewhere in the middle of that. There’s a common thread through all the albums, but there are also sonic and structural and songwriting differences throughout the records as well. So I think it’s a little bit of both, and we fall somewhere right in the middle, influence-wise, between AC/DC and LED ZEPPELIN as far as the music that shaped us. Put a little [LYNYRD] SKYNYRD and AEROSMITH in there and you’ve got the four quarters that make the dollar of BLACK STONE CHERRY.”
Asked what BLACK STONE CHERRY is trying differently on the band’s upcoming album, Chris said: “I think on this record, man, the melodies and… For me, I don’t know how to describe it other than there’s a vibe. And I know that’s so loose and so broad and undescriptive, but there’s this energy and vibe in these new songs. I don’t know, man.”
He continued: “We all got together at Ben‘s [Wells, BLACK STONE CHERRY guitarist/backing vocalist] house to write these songs in a room together. So we weren’t on the bus this go-round. It was the first time in several years that we got to get in a room and just go, ‘Hey, let’s get together and write songs. Let’s just get together and see what comes out,’ and not have it all spur from riffs that happened on the bus. So we got in a room together and started hashing out some ideas. And I’m really excited for people to hear this stuff.”
Elaborating on what was different during the writing process for BLACK STONE CHERRY‘s upcoming album, Chris said: “I really enjoyed the writing process this time because when we’re on the back of the bus writing, it’s awesome, it rocks and great ideas flow, but it’s such a small space that it’s hard to keep all four people back there all the time. And it’s coming and going. So this go-round, we were all in the same room the entire time, sitting there… While you’re sitting there, it’s instant feedback. The spontaneity and the instant feedback is the thing. It’s not like two guys sitting and doing a part and then checking, make sure everybody digs it and then tweaking it to make everybody dig it. It all happens at once.”
BLACK STONE CHERRY‘s latest album, “Screamin’ At The Sky”, was released in September 2023 via Mascot Records. The opus was made available in white solid vinyl, limited edition vinyl boxset, CD and digitally.
Earlier in 2023, BLACK STONE CHERRY released the album’s lead single, “Out Of Pocket”, which went on to be a crowd favorite on the band’s U.K. arena shows.
The Kentucky-based band, featuring Chris Robertson (lead vocals/guitar),Ben Wells (guitar/backing vox) and John-Fred Young (drums/backing vox),were joined for the first time on an album recording by Steve Jewell Jr.. The band’s fanbase was already more than familiar with Steve, as he had been touring with BLACK STONE CHERRY since 2021.
“Screamin’ At The Sky” featured all-new material written collaboratively while on tour, but when it came time to record, BLACK STONE CHERRY decided to try something it had always dreamed of doing: tracking an album at The Plaza Theater in Glasgow, Kentucky — a legendary 1020-seat venue built in 1934 that boasts meticulous acoustics.
Photo credit: Jimmy Fontaine
